MISTAH FAB (February 2007) | Interview By: Nima

       Dubcnn finally got the opportunity to sit down and speak with the "Prince Of The Bay" Mistah FAB for an exclusive interview. We discuss his recent deal with Atlantic Records as well as the details of his long waited album "Da Yellow Bus Rydah." We also find out about the details of a precursor to the album "The Baydestrian," get the lowdown on Ghost Riding, Ecstasy, Bay Culture and even some words about his radio show and recent emotional feature with his brother. Mistah FAB tells us who he's currently feeling, we get his views on the emergence of the internet for artists in a positive light and pose the idea of Mistah FAB on tour...in a Yellow Bus - you heard it hear first!

As always we have both the transcript and the audio for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: nima@dubcnn.com

 

Interview was done by phone in February 2007

Questions Asked By : Nima

Mistah FAB Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here

Full Interview In Audio : Here

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Dubcnn: We're right here with the Prince of the bay Mistah F.A.B.! What up with you Fabby?

Oh man, I'm just chilling! It's my birthday week, so I had a long night, but you know, it's all good! I'm trying to party like it's 1999!


Dubcnn: You know, although we've been reporting on for a long time on dubcnn, ever since Nig Latin dropped, this is the first time catching up for an in-depth interview. So just go ahead and give everybody in brief introduction, let us know what you represent, and what you're here to do!

First of all, the name is Mistah Fab, I've been on the grind since I was like 17-18, and I just turned 25. So that's about a good seven year run of just working hard, trying to push. I got a nice little buzz right now in the Bay Area for myself and for a lot of other cats in the Bay, just trying to be that voice of the people. Besides that man, I've just been on the grind, just recently signed a distribution deal through Atlantic Records. Besides that, just trying to put things together, and just make good music man, that the whole world is going to feel.


Dubcnn: Okay man so you're repping this Bay movement. What's your affiliation with Thizz?

Thizz is like my home. That's my home umbrella. They gave me an opportunity when a lot of cats had slept on me. Mac Dre really opened up the door for me man, for people to know who I am, on the whole Bay Area level. I mean people knew who I was, but I wasn't affiliated with a team, and people really be kind of hesitant to show love to no-mans of the game, when you ain't with no
team. We just clicked up man, it was a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, Dre died in 2004, and somebody had to keep the legacy going with the whole Thizz movement, and that's what it is man!

I'm just keeping the legacy going, and for anybody that's not familiar with Thizz, we have a movement that's kind of similar to Dipset, as far as as our following. We got a strong fan base, a cult following, that support us in everything we do and everywhere we go. We're just trying to keep it going man, so I'm definitely a direct affiliate of Thizz Ent.


Dubcnn: Tell us about the whole Yellow Bus thing and the concept around it.

The whole Yellow Bus movement thing... It started off as just a rhyme! I was like "I do the dummy retarded and ride the yellow bus." It was crazy because I honestly didn't think that it would receive as much as attention as it did. What it did, it turned around into a movement! In the Bay Area we have a genre of music just like "Go stupid", "Get hyphy", and I was like "You can't go no dumber than riding the yellow bus!" So when I said that, everybody was like "Oh yeah, I ride the yellow bus too!"

So it just started a real movement, and if you look at the MySpaces, and all that stuff, you just see the yellow buses everywhere! And that just signed off a verse that I said! Now people saying they ride the yellow bus, just going completely ignorant! But it's crazy to be responsible for that, because you're like "Damn, I never knew that it would do that!" I didn't think that people from all over would be like "Yeah I ride the yellow bus too!"


Dubcnn: So you recently got signed to Atlantic Records. Can you breakdown to us how you got signed and what made you pick Atlantic Records?

I think Atlantic Records showed the most interest, I was on like a bidding war for like 7 months. People were saying they wanted to sign me, and I was flying out, taking meetings with every damn president I know, all these labels, and it really wasn't the movement that I see myself with. A lot of
labels man, they want you just cause you're on, and they don't want nobody else to have you. Remember when you was little, and you'd have some toys, and somebody would come over to your house, and the toy that you never play with, ever ever, they'll pick up, and start playing with it. Then you'd be like "Man, give me my toy man!" And they'd be like "Man you ain't even playing with that toy! You just wanted it cause I got it!"

That's how a lot of labels were, they didn't really have no main interest in me, but I think Atlantic took interest as far as saying "Okay, this is music, we like you, we're gonna fly out to some of your shows." That's all it is man, it's a beautiful thing because they showed interest. I went over there because I was like "Okay, they're interested, they know who I am, they didn't just go on my MySpace page and hear some of the music and say they wanna sign me." I went over there, built a relationship, and that's what it's about.


Dubcnn: Your single "Ghostride It" has been creating a buzz, and I heard the video is going to be MTV Jam Of The Week?

Yeah that video starts playing Monday, which is so crazy, cause they've been showing the commercial on MTV Jams and MTV2 on the Unleashed part, and that's crazy! I came to my house the other day and I just caught the commercial, and I was like "Daaamn! I'm on MTV!" *laughs* So just to catch myself on that commercial was crazy. This whole thing is still overwhelming sometimes man, cause I look back at myself and I'm like "Damn! Just a couple of years ago, I was dreaming about this!" I mean I thought that it was possible, because I was going out of my way to pursue my dreams. But, just for this thing to be happening man, I mean I've been around the world, and not even in my wildest dreams and 14-15, did I think that I would be able to go to England or whatever, off music! That's just crazy man!


Dubcnn: You gotta keep at it, though!

Yeah! And once you start reaching gold, you just continue to broad your dreams, and that's what I'm doing, I'm just broadening my dreams. Like "Okay, I got this, I made that possible, alright, let me go to the next level." I'm just trying to keep it taking the steps up man.


Dubcnn: What did you think the first time you heard that beat with the Ghostbusters theme?

I actually told my dude Sean T, who is responsible for that beat, who is one of the ultimate producers, I love that guy...


Dubcnn: He's been around for a long time!

Yeah, definitely, and anybody that follows Bay Area music, this guy is definitely a pioneer as far as making the Bay Area what it is. He's been a part of the original movement, and now he's with this whole new movement. I actually gave him the idea, I was like "Bro, you should do the ghost busters
beat!" He was like "What?! The ghost busters beat?" I was like "Do it! This shit is gonna be crazy!" He did it, and we sat back, joked about it, we laughed about it, but we did the song! When we did it, we thought it was just be something that the kids would wanna hear, but we moved on, we didn't
put that much effort into it, like "Oh yeah this is gonna be a smasher!" I never did that! It's just crazy cause it's been getting so much buzz! Out of the whole movement, nobody cares about nothing else we're doing! Everywhere I go, everybody is like "What the hell is ghostriding??" That's all people
wanna know about! "I don't care about nothing else out of this movement, no go stupid, none of that, just what the hell is the ghostriding thing?"


Dubcnn: You know, I recently saw you on a TV Interview speaking about the whole ghostriding... They were kind of going hard on you, tell us about that.

What it is man, anytime you do something with not only nationwide recognition, but worldwide recognition, people see you as a sacrificial lamb. Also anytime you do something that penetrates pop culture, and it's taking over other neighbourhoods and other areas, they're like "Hold on, this is becoming a threat." Nobody in the 70's, when they were making all the feel good music and it was good, it was like "Okay that's what the blacks wanna do, they're good." Then, when white people start doing it, they're like "WAIT A MINUTE! THEY'RE KILLING MY CULTURE!"

So it's gotten so big, that these people, these rich republicans, they're kids are doing it! And they're like "Man, what are you doing? What's going on? We can't take this!" So they get static about they're kids doing it, and they're coming home to their kids dancing on top of their car, so they wanna
try to stop it whenever they can! But you can't stop something that becomes a movement man. It's gonna keep going, it's a Tsunami with it! I loved the opportunity, cause what they didn't realize, they put me on to a whole different market! It was people that had never heard of ghostriding, but
when they did that on the news, that put me on to a whole other fan base!


Dubcnn: That's what I was about to say, they tried to blame the whole thing on you, like it's just you, but at the same time, they blew you up.

Man they blew me up! Cause what they do, they start asking their kids, "what is ghostriding?" They're like "Dad, you don't know what ghostriding is? Let me see your keys!" They just blew me up! Even after they did it, that interview done led to so many other interviews! Some good, some not so good.
But at the end of the day, when you're pushing a record, publicity is everything. As a business person, not only as an artist, cause I own my own company and I'm my own president, so as a business man, you just want people talking about your business, regardless what they say. whether it's "There are roaches at that store." or "The food is good." Regardless. What you're doing is you're creating conversation! And anytime conversation happens, controversy sells, and people don't understand that.


Dubcnn: So you know, this ain't no corporate TV station, give us your views on ghostriding, and the negative parts about it too, cause we know there are negative parts to it.

Well the whole ghostriding thing... Like I said, I'm an artist, and I paint what's going on in my culture. My culture right now, we have this craze! The negative things, they come from lack of attention, they come from a need to seen, they come from a need to be heard. Because, in my community right now, in Oakland where I'm from, they closed eight schools this year, so the kids don't have nowhere to go to school. If they're going to school, they're going to school with rival gangs. Not necessarily gangs like bloods and crips, but like street gangs, blocks. They go to school, they deal with that. So you have young kids that don't feel safe in school, so they go to school with guns and stuff like that. They don't have no recreation, no after school programs, no youth centers. There is one youth center in the whole city of Oakland. It's nothing! So there is no opportunity, it's nothing for the kids to do.

So what they do, they create their own recreation, they create their own opportunity. They do whatever they do to gain attention. So they have sideshows. Sideshows is like car shows where people come party and come dance and play their music. At sideshows, they ghostride their cars, just so they can be seen. They get new cars and they wanna feel be like "Well ya'll ain't looking at me? Look at me now!" The whole ghostriding thing, it's like a car stunt. Now, I'm not saying that it's the best thing to do, I'm not saying that it's the safest thing to do. But, if it was done inside of a
controlled environment, it would be a lucrative thing. Not only for the city, but for the people that's doing it!

What I mean by that is, as a reiterated earlier when I was talking about that show, when Cowboys first started riding bulls, people thought they was out they mind! They was like "Ya'll riding bulls, ya'll gonna kill yourselves! What's going on with that?" As soon as they started putting it in a controlled environment, you have one of the biggest events in America. They create these things, and anytime you have something that America loves, that means that it's lucrative, cause they're going to keep playing, they're going to keep doing that. And that's what ghostriding is, you got Nascar, that's urban drifting! You got all these things that they're giving an opportunity to see what it would be like in a controlled environment, but they haven't given this opportunity for the whole sideshows and stuff that
we do in the bay.

They're trying to stop it before you even see how you could help it! Cause if you try to stop it, and you know you can't stop it, you know what that does? That only makes people wanna do it even more! When they told you not to do something when you were young, you always was like "I'm still gonna do this!" You never cared! You did it in their presence or you did it when they wasn't around! But when they give you an opportunity to do something, then you was like "Oh I can do it, there ain't no risks... I ain't even gonna do it!"


Dubcnn: I feel you. I also wanted to talk to you about the recent explosion of Ecstasy in Hip-Hop, specially in the Bay Area.

Yeah that's crazy man. A lot of people use drugs to escape the hardships of reality that they go through. When you see a kid man, who's 13-14, his dad's in jail, his dad's dead or he doesn't know his dad. His mom is runnin' around like her head cut off, not realizing that she has a baby to raise,
and this kid is frustrated, he's going through a lot of things man. He's stressed out. They see drugs as an outlet to make them feel like they don't have to deal with the reality of what they go through.

And not once do I say that this is the right thing to do. Not once do I feel compassionate about a kid using drugs, because it's just not cool. Not matter how you look at it, it ain't cool. But, when you look at what these kids go through in their lives, and it's like "Damn, they ain't got nothing else in they life to do! They need some type of feeling of relief to get them away from the reality they look at." I can only say the reason why I smoked weed, the reason why I got drunk, and it was because my mom was on drugs and my dad had died from AIDS. I was going through a lot of stuff, I was frustrated, I didn't have nobody to talk to, so I was getting high to just try to forget for a minute, you know?

It's unfortunate man, and it's sad, because people see drugs as a way to escape, but really, you're making yourself worse, and I didn't realize that until I got older. You don't do nothing but make yourself worse, you make it hard for yourself, because you look at things from a cloudy view when you high, and when you sober, you're back to how things was. So anyway, you gotta look at the realty of what's really going on when you high, and what's really going on when you not high, which only makes you get more high! So it only gets worse man.

We do definitely have a drug problem in the Bay Area right now, the music is getting promoted to make it seem as if it's okay to use drugs. I've been guilty of it, and I won't come here and try to sugarcoat it or make it seem like I don't have nothing to do with these kids using drugs. I take
responsibility for my part, but at the same time, I also go back and talk to these kids in seminars, and let them know that it ain't just about this. It's about handling your business.

I also go through this conversation or debate with a lot of people man, cause when people say that minorities are responsible for all the criminal energy, I'm like, if you switched places, if you put the wealthy kids in the ghetto and had them grow up like that, the would be the ones doing the crimes, so it's not about that!

Not even to make it a racist situation, but it all goes back to America never wanting to accept their mistakes. White America, or the White regions of the world never want to accept the fact that they messed up, and that they did something wrong. So what they do, they come up with things to blame
other people. They blame the drugs on blacks. When you point at the community, how did the drugs get here? They blame the black on black crime on the blacks. How did the guns get there? Ain't no black person ever made no gun! Ecstasy. This is a drug that's been manufactured that's been used
for a long time, in white areas! And any other thing. Blacks are the highest at risk at AIDS. AIDS was a test program! And they started experimenting on Blacks! They used their experiments on babies! So they always give the blame to other people, nobody wants to ever take the blame for the wrong parts.

Us being the minority, us being those who went through the most, it's easy for them to say "This is why they're doing it!" It's a legitimate excuse, but at the end of the day, they're responsible for it! I'm like "Come on man, you can't blame us for being caught in a web where we have to survive!"
Blacks have been through survival mode their whole life, no other race or whatever went through slavery! No other race went through what Blacks went through in the South! We're survivors man, and we will survive through anything, it may just take us a little bit longer. But for all the people
out there and the young people in general, don't take the blame for what life has forced you to do. Realize that this is what life has forced you to do, and you have to make the best of your situation, however you do it. And whatever you do, just stay positive about how you doing it!



Dubcnn: I feel you man. Let's get to a more pleasant topic. I wanted to ask you about your radio show on KYLD Wild 94.9. How did that start?

My radio show man, it's crazy! When I put out the "Nig Latin" album, I put it out through this guy named Jazzy Jim, who's a program director over at 94.9. And I use to tell them like "Man, I just want my own radio show! I'd be crazy on the radio!" When he came back, he was like "You still want your
radio show?" I was like "Yeah man!" He was like "Alright!" So he made it happen for me, it was that easy! I got that opportunity, and I was like "I'm finna be crazy on the radio!" And it definitely helped out for a favor man, cause I get a chance to play peoples music who might have never been on the radio, I get a chance to lookout for folks, and talk about community problems, all types of stuff. I can really do what I wanna do at my show. It's an opportunity, cause I'm a voice of the community! I get a chance to help people, to just talk crazy and do whatever I wanna do. It's great, I love it.


Dubcnn: One time you had your brother on the show, I thought that was some real deep shit. Can you tell us about that show?

Yeah that was real emotional man, that show was crazy. My brother had just got out of jail, and he had been going through a lot of stuff. My bro did like 11 years straight. 11 years in the pen man, it's so much changed when you get out of jail. When he came home, he was just so trying to get back
that time that he spent in there! And I was telling him like "Man, you will never be able to get the time back man! You'll never be able to get what you had back! You can have it in another form. But you'll never be able to go back to '95 or '96, those years are over man!"

And he had really been living in the past, and he had just gotten sad like "Man if I can't go back to how I had it, I just don't wanna live no more." I was like "Whaat?! What you say?" It just had gotten to that point where he was so frustrated with life, and what I did was, I put him on my show, cause
I wanted him to see that he wasn't the only person going through that. It's people everywhere around the world going through the same thing. It's people right here in our own community, that went through to everything you're going through. What I wanted him to do is tell his story to these other people, so he can touch them.

I was like "You can help these other people out there that's feeling the way you're feeling. They don't have a chance to get on no radio and talk to a big audience. They don't have the chance to have a little brother who's in a position to help people." So I wanted to get up there and tell him that he
was important, and that he was somebody. He had an opportunity to help people, rather than just give up and end it like that.

That interview really touched a lot of people. A lot of people was calling me, MySpacing me, emailing me, like "Dude, that was some of the realest shit I ever heard in life!" I wanted to let him know that I was speaking from my heart. We was really up there crying! It was real grown ass men tears! But
it was tears of pain and tears of joy at the same time. The pain came from the things that we talked about, loosing our dad, him loosing his mom, and us just going through the losses that we went through. But the benediction was, the blessing of being able to get that out. To say this, and not be
ashamed of what we went through. It was a lot of people man, that we were talking for, that we didn't even realize we were talking for. That was a blessing man, I think that was one of my best shows ever.


Dubcnn: Let's get back to the music man! I want to get to your album.

Well what I'm doing right now, I've been having a few talks with people over at Atlantic. Right now, the whole Atlantic thing, they're cool, but my main thing is... These major labels want you to sit back and wait on them and move when they move. Its artists that do that. If you're going to be an
artist like that, then so be it for you. Me, I'm not going to be like that. They don't want my album to come out till like October right? What I did, I was like "Well look, I'm gonna drop an independent album April 17th, just to keep my buzz going!"

Cause I'm not going to sit back and wait on them to drop my album and be like "Oh yeah they said I'm gonna come out this time and this time" and you never come out! So I'm going to drop an independent album April 17th, it's called "The Baydestrian", it's going to be crazy! It's basically just going to be me getting a lot of stuff off my shoulders, and doing it for the Bay. That's going to be my Bay project. Then "The Yellow Bus Rida" that comes out in November, and I'm going to stay busy! I'm going to drop two projects and hey man, whatever happens happens.

But they're not finna have me idle, sitting around waiting on them. I got my own label, I got my own resources, and my own machine, so I'm able to do what I gotta do with my machine. My machine is allowing me to drop an album, sell an album, say sell about 50,000 real quick, 50,000 at $7 a record, I mean you do the math! Like Jay-Z say, men lie, women lie, numbers don't! So when I go up in there, I'ma be like "Look, I could do this without ya'll. I don't need ya'll! Ya'll wanna get behind it or not?"


Dubcnn: At the same time, you doing that might get them to drop your album sooner!

That's what I'm saying! Cause they're going to be like "Well, man, let us just drop this album in summertime! We didn't know this album was gonna do that much!" So they album does 50-75,000, they're going to be pissed off cause they wasn't involved in it! They're going to do what they have to do to get involved in it fast!


Dubcnn: Hopefully it works out that way.

It's gonna work out! I got a distribution through SMC/Fontana to distribution my album "The Baydestrian". I'ma drop that album and keep doing what I'm doing. I've never waited for nothing, no one has ever given me anything, I've had a blessing to meet some people that work very good with
me, and we're just working man! I ain't waiting around on shit to happen, I'm moving! That's why the respected me and that's why they continue to respect me, and they're going to look me eye to eye and tell me what they gotta tell me.


Dubcnn: What producers did you work with on "The Baydestrian"?

First of all, I got Sean T, he's crazy. I got Droop-E, E-40's little son, he's the future. Traxamillion who created the whole Super Hyphy sound. I got Young L, he's the truth, he's the dude who did "Got my Vans on", he's ridiculous. I got some outside producers, but I can't think right now! I got Jim Johnson, he's from Down South, he did like all the Pretty Ricky stuff, he's dope. I got a lot of people doing some stuff.


Dubcnn: What about guest appearances?

Snoop Dogg, Too Short, E-40, Pitbull, Trey Songz, Goapele, and a couple of other people.


Dubcnn: How did you pick the guests on your record? Did you pick artists or did you have the music and then decide who you thought would fit?

I really like to work with artists that I like, you know? Some people use features as strategy and ways to market their album. But the people that I got on my album are the people that I like. I wanted to work with them, it's always been a dream of mine to work with Snoop Dogg, so when he gave me the opportunity I just was like "Fo sho!" Too Short to the Bay is what Jay-Z is to the East Coast.


Dubcnn: Shit, without Too Short there wouldn't be Jay-Z!

Man, I'm glad somebody said that! Too Short has embraced me like a little brother man, I call him pops and everything. We talk everyday, and just the chance to work with him is crazy. As an artist growing up, I never thought that I'd be kicking it with Short at his house, kicking it everywhere
together, that's like a big move man. Who else man... E-40! A lot of these cats I grew up listening to in the bay, just for them to embrace me is a beautiful thing. I love the fact that I'm getting the opportunity to work with these dudes, and it is what it is. I just picked the people that I wanna work with, I don't do songs cause somebody's hella hot or it's a good feature, I do it cause I like these artists and this is who I wanna work with.


Dubcnn: Are you planning on doing a nationwide tour after the release?

Shit man, that's all up to the person that's involved with making blessings come through!


Dubcnn: You should do street shows, travelling in and rapping on top of the roof of a big ass yellow bus! Fabby style!

Yeah that's what my dude told me too, that I need to put the music in the bus and just hit the road and whoop out a show anywhere! So that shit is definitely an option that I'm willing to explore, and whatever option they got for me man, I'm taking it. I'm looking with my eyes a few steps ahead,
but at the same time making sure I got step by step.


Dubcnn: F.A.B. stands for Forever After Bread right? How did you live that day by day?

Just hustling man! Everyday I'm hustling, like Rick Ross say! Everyday! Everyday I'm putting myself in position to do something and make something happen somewhere. That's what life is about man, set yourself up to be alright. You ain't gonna be a rapper forever, you know? So what you ought to
realize is, set yourself up to win after rap. You don't gotta be a rapper forever, but you can be in music business. You can go from being a star to being a star-maker. So what I do is, everyday I set myself up to say "Alright what am I gonna do? How can I generate something today? Can I get some money out of this today?"

If I'm gonna be on MySpace, then I'ma be on MySpace, cause somebody wanna do a song with me, so I'ma find them and hit them up. That's what life is about man everyday I'm trying to find something to make my quest of hustling and getting money easier, and to open up opportunity to those around me! That's what I'm real big on. I come from a neighbourhood where it ain't no
opportunity, niggas don't got no opportunities. Cats don't care man! Niggas do not care. So if you can open opportunities for cats, it's a blessing, cause niggas are like "I ain't got nothing to do!" So I try to put niggas on man. Niggas is getting killed everyday out here, I'm just trying to open up opportunities so my people ain't gotta do that man.


Dubcnn: You just mentioned MySpace, what do you think of sites like MySpace that give the artists and fans the possibility to connect with each other?

Man, MySpace done really took the music game to a whole different level. You don't even really need radio that much anymore, with MySpace and YouTube and joints like that, why am I gonna fight for some radio airplay when I can just create my site and make it so big that everybody wants to go to my site? You get a certain amount of plays a day, that's huge! It's like you get a chance to work with somebody who you ain't ever even talk to, you be like "Man this ain't you!"

Say an up and coming artist, they go on they MySpace, and they be like "This is really Fab?" And I hit them back and they call me like "This is really you?" That's crazy! Me and Lil Jon converse on our MySpaces and it really be him cause I've been at his house and seen him on MySpace! Me and Too Short, this is really like the networking game! This is really for real. MySpace is huge man, good looking Tom!


Dubcnn: Who are you feeling right now from California?

Mitchy Slick, I love Mitch... Glasses Malone... Eddie P, Eddie Projects, he's from Oakland, he's on fire right now. Beeda Weeda, I love Messy Marv. I love Keak Da Sneak. Who else... It's a couple of cats man that's hot, that cats ain't heard about. It's this dude from L.A. his name is Problem! Problem is going to be a Problem! I was listening to his mixtape I was like "Daaamn, that dude is gassin'!"


Dubcnn: What about Clyde Carson?

Oh I love Clyde! I like Clyde cause Clyde is a hustler. Me and Clyde came up under the same roof together, so for me to just see what he's been doing all this time, and him seeing what I'm doing, we really respect each others grind, because there was a time where nobody gave a shit what the bay was doing. Us being two cats from Oakland, nobody cared about what we doing, but we grind so hard, they've been on our line. They're like "You niggas is really doing what ya'll doing." So Clyde is doing, and now he got that hot single the "2 Step", Neff-U did it. I take my hat off to that dude.


Dubcnn: What about Ya Boy?

That's my little brother! I love Ya Boy! Me and him go so much history together! Kicking, chilling, and when people was hating on him, I would call him like "Don't even worry about it bro! You're making opportunity for yourself, don't let them slow you down!" Like I said man, people gonna hate! Everybody was trying to hate on him like "Aw he moved to L.A., he hella Hollywood now, he don't care about us!" I'm like "Dude is trying to open up his opportunities! He can't stay somewhere forever if it ain't working for you! Keep it going, move on!" My hat goes off to him, cause he done went down there and he did him! I love him man!


Dubcnn: He got a hot mixtape with DJ Skee that just dropped.

Man Ya Boy is working man, everyday he's in the studio. How could you hate on somebody that's working on their craft man? They're doing what they're doing, they're taking their talent to another level! Everybody that's doing that, you gotta love them! How can you be mad at them? I mess with a lot of Bay cats, I just respect cats that grind man, don't let nobody stop you, I've been the underdog my whole life, and I"ma continue to have that underdog mentality. Keep grinding.


Dubcnn: What do you think of the recent arrest of DJ Drama and Cannon? Do you think that's going to affect the mixtape industry?

Nah not at all! That shit is going to make it even more!


Dubcnn: But a lot of sites pulled all the mixtapes off their sites and a lot of people are scared right now.

Well you know what niggas is gonna start doing, niggas is gonna start doing original mixtapes! They're gonna do the beats themselves instead of taking other peoples beats. You know? That's what it's going to do! I just talked to Drama the other day, he called me, I got love for him, he's alright! That shit is just going to make it crazier, people are gonna wanna do it even more! But it did pull a lot of strain of what cats was doing, people just wanted to back up like "Man hold on, I don't wanna do this no more." But it's only going to make it bigger man, shouts out to all the DJ's out there that's grinding. But you do take money out of peoples plate man, can't be mad at that! But people are gonna start doing exclusive mixtapes, with your own beat.


Dubcnn: Alright man I think we've covered pretty much everything, is there anything else that you'd like to let everybody know?

I got a lot of articles and interviews that don't really know that I have a lot of political involvement in my community. I'm very politically based, I'm on a mayor candidate I supported him on his whole campaign, I was one of the main voices in supporting him to make change in my community. What I
mean is, you gotta be able to be a part of your community. Everybody talks about change, you gotta be able to be a part of that change. So I'm with the new mayor, and my political involvement in my community is so big.

People get so caught up in the musical side they don't realize all the stuff I'm doing behind that! We do silence of violence tours, we do free shows for the kids in the community, every Christmas, every Thanksgiving, all the holidays, we go give out food and give out presents to the youth centers. Now I'm not doing that or saying that to be like "Okay I'm giving all this out, support me!" What I'm doing is, I'm showing people that it's bigger than artistry. At the end of the day I'm a humanitarian and I care about what's going on in my community and my young peers. That's one of my main goals, to save lives. If I can save lives through my music and one person comes to me and says "Man you changed my life and made me want to do something positive", then my job is done, I've been blessed to change a life. That's what it's all about!